muppetfandomcom-20200223-history
Spaghetti Space Chase
Spaghetti Space Chase is a ride at Universal Studios Singapore that opened on March 1, 2013."http://www.rwsentosablog.com/2013/02/18/opsspag/", Resorts World Sentosa blog, February 18, 2013. The attraction, which operates in the park's New York zone, is a steel suspended dark ride combining animatronic figures, video footage, light and fog effects. Synopsis The evil Macaroni the Merciless has swiped all of the spaghetti on Earth, with Sesame Street being his latest target. Elmo and Super Grover 2.0 are called on to retrieve the spaghetti. Gallery Queue/Pre-show Image:SSNNSpecialReportTitle.jpg Image:SSCPreShowElmoAndersonCucumber.jpg SPC-01.png SPC-02.png SPC-03.png Image:SSCPreShow2.jpg Image:spaghetti jester.jpg Ride Image:Spaghetti_chase_bird.jpg Image:Spaghetti_bert_and_ernie.jpg Bert ernie figures.jpg spaghetti grover.jpg spaghetti chase scene.jpg Big Bird's Emporium Image:spaghetti store 2.jpg Image:spaghetti store.jpg Characters :Abby Cadabby, Anderson Cucumber, Anything Muppet, Baby Bear, Bats, Bert, Big Bird, Chickens, Cookie Monster, The Count, Elmo, Ernie, Grover/Super Grover 2.0, Little Bird, Macaroni the Merciless, The Martians, Murray Monster, Narf, Octopus, Oscar the Grouch, Rosita, Snuffy, Telly Monster, Tiger, Zester and Shredder, Zoe Development Since its earliest development stages, Universal Studios Singapore wanted to include Sesame Street in their park, but the option was set aside in favor of franchises with more marketing power, according to USS executive designer Kevin Barbee."Bringing Sesame Street to Singapore", The Star June 2, 2012. One of the rumored attractions was the English version of Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic "Universal Studios Singapore: What we got VS what we could have gotten", Ussingaporeblogspot.com November 13, 2009. In 2008, work began on the attraction that would become Spaghetti Space Chase. However, the project was originally intended to be a new version of E.T. Adventure. This concept was abandoned. Barbee explained: "The decision was made to do something more current instead. ET is very beloved but we have to stay up-to-date - there haven't been any new ET movies produced recently"."Pasta thief on the loose",AsiaOne February 24, 2013. Rumors of a Sesame Street / Elmo-themed dark ride being developed for Universal Studios Singapore first appeared on theme park insider Screamscape's website on February 1, 2012."Screamscape.com - Universal Studios Singapore", Screamscape. February 17, 2012. On May 24, as part of their newly formed partnership with Sesame Workshop, USS announced that it would open a new Sesame Street ride by the end of the year. Andrea Teo, vice-president of Entertainment at Resorts World Sentosa, said of the upcoming attraction during the press conference on that day: "I think it's a very unique ride. It's got the same Sesame Street kind of humour, it's a bit wacky, it's a bit way-out-there, it'll make you laugh and because it's a ride, it also gives you a bit of a thrill (and) adventure." "Sesame Street ride to open at Universal Studios S'pore", MSN Singapore. May 24, 2012. The entrance to the Universal Theater building, originally intended for the announced but unfinished Stage 28 attraction, had a Sesame Street-themed facade that appeared as early as May 28. At the entrance were two sci-fi movie parody posters, hinting that the upcoming attraction would have an outer-space theme. In August, the building was covered by a giant illustrated construction wall giving more clues to the ride's plot. In October, the new entrance and marquee were completed, and the attraction's title was revealed. Also in October, USS released its first teaser video for the attraction featuring Resorts World Sentosa spokesperson Robin Goh as a news anchor who reports of the strange disappearance of spaghetti around the world. The video also included the first (illustrated) images of the villain Macaroni the Merciless and his henchmen Zester and Shredder. Although the ride was originally scheduled to open by the end of 2012, it was pushed back to early 2013. On February 16, 2013, USS Annual Pass members were given a special preview of the ride. On February 18, RWS announced that the ride would officially open on March 1. According to Kevin Barbee, spaghetti was chosen as the main concept because it relates to the Italian-American culture (mainly food) in New York City, where Sesame Street is set, but added that it "also related well with Asian culture, as spaghetti is a type of noodle""New Sesame Street ride at Universal Studios Singapore", Yahoo Singapore. February 18, 2013. The script was written by Joey Mazzarino. Kip Rathke served as creative director for the ride's characters as well as for graphics and merchandise. File:Sesame Street at Universal Studios Singapore - Breaking News 06.10.2012|First teaser, released October 2012 Social media campaign On February 16, 2013, Resorts World Sentosa began posting teaser photos for the ride on their Facebook page. From February 18-25, RWS held a picture contest for Instagram users entitled Operations Spaghetti (#OpsSpag), in which users must come up with different ways to "protect" their pasta from Macaroni the Merciless - either by hiding it, using a disguise or camouflage). The winner(s) would be the very first "Super Sidekicks" on the ride's opening date."http://www.rwsentosablog.com/2013/02/18/opsspag/", CHALLENGE Pit your wits against Macaroni the Merciless in #OpsSpag!, February 18, 2013. Image:Ussface1.png Image:Ussface2.png Image:Ussface3.png Image:Ussface4.png Image:Ussface5.png Image:Ussface6.png Image:Ussface8.png Image:Ussface7.png Image:Ussface9.png Image:Ussface0.jpg Grand opening ceremony Universal Studios Singapore celebrated the ride's launch with a grand opening ceremony. Attending the event were John Hallenbeck, Vice President of Park Operations at Universal Studios Singapore and Peter van Roden, Vice President of Themed Entertainment at Sesame Workshop. The ceremony included a performance of "Another Sunny Day" and a ceremonial "spaghetti-cutting" (in lieu of the traditional ribbon) which is briefly interrupted by Super Grover, who accidentally crash lands onto the roof of Mel's Diner. He runs down to join the others, emerging out of the ride's entrance as van Roden and Hallenbeck proceed to cut the spaghetti. The opening ceremony marked the first new vocal performance of Elmo after Kevin Clash's departure from Sesame Workshop in late 2012. Peter Linz provided the voice of Elmo for the non-musical portions. Image:Ssclaunch2.jpg Image:Ssclaunch3.jpg Image:Ssclaunch1.jpg Image:Ssclaunch5.jpg | Super Grover makes his entrance at the wrong address."Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase - Grand Opening & Carnival at New York", Dejiki.com. March 1, 2013. Notes *The Fix-It Shop, which had been replaced by the laundromat in season 39 of Sesame Street, appears again in the street set portion of the ride. * This is one of Jerry Nelson's last performances as The Count. Nelson also voices the SSNN announcer. * This is also one of Kevin Clash's last performances as Elmo. * Although Grover appears in his Super Grover 2.0 persona, here he is referred to as Super Grover. Performers * Kevin Clash as Elmo * Eric Jacobson as Bert and Grover/Super Grover 2.0 * Joey Mazzarino as Macaroni the Merciless and Murray * David Rudman as Cookie Monster and Baby Bear * Matt Vogel as Anderson Cucumber, Tiger and a Martian * Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar * Fran Brill as Zoe * Carmen Osbahr as Rosita * Jerry Nelson as The Count and SSNN announcer * Martin P. Robinson as Telly, Snuffy, Octopus and a Martian * Steve Whitmire as Ernie * Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Abby and "Super Space Helper" Sources External links * Disney and More blog - includes pictures of the construction wall __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Universal Studios Singapore Attractions Category:Space Category:Food Category:International Attractions